IDFA 1994
Dom starych kobiet
The House of the Old Women
Jan Lomnicki
Poland
1957
10 min
A film about old age. Jan Lomnicki made an impression of the life of elder people who, far from their relatives and friends, are facing their final days. This has resulted in a number of portraits in which the traces of happy as well as sad experiences, of memories that have clung to these people's minds can be perceived. The images have dramatic overtones that have directly been taken from reality. The conventional means used by the filmmaker give the film a symbolic, rather than a documentary meaning. The dejected atmosphere, intensified by the unrelenting ticking away of the time, is evoked through repeated images, like the chorus of a song, the beating of a clock, candles dying out and shadows on a wall.
Credits
Director
Cinematography
Screening copy
Film Polski
Film Polski